Tuesday, April 28, 2009

iFlied!

My good friend Joe called me up and told me his was surprising his wife on her birthday with a flight at the iFly wind tunnel in Ogden. (Click here for more info on iFly.) Its basically a simulation of skydiving. I thought it'd be fun to go watch her, so Claire and I tagged along. I got peer pressured into doing it within five minutes of being there. So Joe watched Claire, and Marie, her 4-year-old daughter Olivia and I iFlied. Nate has wanted to do it for a long time so I felt a little guilty doing it without him but I guess its a great excuse to go with him and fly again, right? (Thanks again to Joe for taking the pics and watching Claire!)



Full body shot


Best shot we got of Marie


Look at Livvy, she was in heaven.




My attempt at a backflip. How about that form, huh?


If you can see my face, you'll see the silly grin...I was told I never stopped smiling the whole time.


It was really fun to share this experience with Marie. We've been best friends for a long time and don't get to see each other as often as I would like. (Hint, hint Marie...move closer!) I definitely recommend this for anyone who would never dare jump out of plane. :) It was amazing!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Claire's 15 minutes

Notice the little girl in the white shirt and pink pants...

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Yesterday

Cost of gas to drive to Park City: $5.31




Lunch for two at Panda Express: $14.65




Last day skiing with my little brother before he leaves for two years: Priceless









Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Activities

This year was really the first year Claire got into the idea of Easter egg hunts. And being a first-time mom, I had to be sure she got her fill of egg hunts. We started off last Monday at Family Night with an easter egg hunt and some egg dyeing.






The stickers didn't really go where they were intended...




Next up was an egg hunt on Thursday at a retirement center. Cousins Drew and Corgan joined us for this one. Don't they all look excited?


I was suprised how much Claire loved the Easter Bunny. She ran right up to him and kept hugging him. After the hunt, she just followed him around, trying to get him to give her "five" again. Poor Drew obviously didn't want to get near the Bunny, but mean Uncle Nate made him. :)


"Look what I got!"


Tuckered out!


The next hunt was at our city's annual egg hunt. There were two huge fields full of eggs, but they were all cleared within about 30 seconds. The kids had a great time again. Here they are, patiently waiting for it to start.


"I want easter eggs Mommy."


And we're off!


She made out pretty well for how many kids there were. And she got a #5 in one of her eggs and when we went up front, it was one of the grand prizes! A huge Easter basket full of (even more) candy, bubbles, and a giant ball.


That afternoon we went out to Wheeler Farm for a carnival. The kids rode the big slide,


watched the ducks,


and I crammed two of them into what is supposed to be a single-stroller.


Finally, Easter day was here! Claire checking out her loot.


The dress! Thanks again to Grandma Plowman for the beautiful dress!


Then, off to see what the Easter Bunny brought in the backyard.


Ending with the final egg hung (with a total of five this year) at Grandma and Grandpa's house.


The neighbors brought over their real bunny and the kids loved it!


Hope everyone had a happy Easter!


{Gotta love an overly-commercialized Easter, right?}

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hawaii!

I'm seriously (once again) behind in the blogging. We got to spend eleven fun-filled days in Hawaii in March! We went with my entire family - 13 of us, three grandkids included. Here's a quick re-cap:

Day 1: Traveled to Honolulu. Claire did really great on the airplane, thanks to a few tips from some friends. Read: candy. View from our hotel.


Day 2: Toured Pearl Harbor,


went to the Dole Plantation (Claire kept asking, "What's this Mama?"),


got Matsumoto Shave Ice (so delish!),


hung out at Waimea Bay Beach,


and finished off the day with a tour of the Laie Hawaii temple. Whew - long day!



Day 3: My brother Ryan was already in Oahu for work (lucky guy-seriously, who travels to Hawaii for work?) so he wanted us to hike up to these waterfalls with him. He told us it took about 20 minutes to get up there and it was "kind of" muddy. Twenty minutes turned into 1.5 hours in mud so thick and sticky that you'd loose your foot in it! My sister's flip flops broke and I couldn't walk in mine, so we ended up going barefoot most of the way. And Claire and Drew couldn't walk in it so we had to carry them the whole way. I'm still not sure if it was worth it, but it was beautiful.


Nate and the other guys got to do some cliff jumping. I got to take pictures. Claire and Drew got passed from person to person. We all loved it.


Then we spent the rest of the afternoon at Kaulua Beach.


Day 4: Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay - gorgeous fish, but freezing water! I had goosebumps the whole time.


Then we hung out on Waikiki Beach and did some shopping.




We left that night for Maui. I wish all flights could be 35 minutes.

Day 5: Went to church,


went on a drive to the North Shore - SO beautiful!


Then hung out on Front Street in Lahaina.


Day 6: Beached it for most of the day at DT Fleming Beach...known for its big waves. My parents had brought their boogie boards so we had a blast! That is, once I got in the cold water. Seriously - am I the only one that thinks Hawaii's water should be warmer?!


Claire's heaven - playing with Grandma all week.


Day 7: we hung out at the condo and swam, then went to Napili Bay Beach.


My mom brought the kids a little pool and that was about the extent of Claire's ocean-touching. She's like her Mom - too cold! (PS-I just love how Nate is striking a pose and my brother Ryan makes a weird, different face in every picture I take of him.)


Claire loved the sand. At every beach she'd run, chase birds, roll around, twirl until she fell, and ate at least a gallon of it.




Ended the day in the hot tub with a sand bottom (which - side note - I thought was really creepy. The sand was probably over 5 inches deep, so you couldn't feel the bottom, I had to keep my legs on top of Nate's the whole time. Ewwww.).


Day 8: Rode a catamaran out to Molokini Crater for some snorkeling, then went to Turtle Town to swim with sea turtles - it was amazing. Didn't get any pics in our snorkel gear. But my mom did bring an underwater camera - can't wait to see how those turn out!

Then drove around the ocean looking for whales and dolphins. We ended up seeing a lot of both!


That afternoon we went to Fleming Beach again for some big waves. My brothers and Nate rented a surfboard. Yeah, it didn't go so well for any of them. At least Ry and B got up for a bit (sorry Nate). Next time we'll go for some official lessons.


Day 9: Hung out at the beach again in the morning,


Seriously, she ate the sand everywhere we went.


then went to a great Laua that night. Claire, Drew, and Corgan went up on stage to learn the hula. It was so cute! Claire actually got into it and was dancing around. I'm not going to lie - I teared up watching her up there. She's just getting so big.


We even managed to get a few photos on the beach.


The whole clan.


Day 10: Biked 28 miles down Haleakala Crater. Loved this.


Then went to the park so the kids could get some energy out.




That night we did my brother's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It was so cool - how many kids can say they had their Court of Honor in Hawaii? We're so proud of B for accomplishing this - it was a lot of work!



Day 11: Said bye to the condo...Claire loved the fish pond.


Drove along the coast on the Road to Hana. It was gorgeous...much better than I remembered it. We found this peninsula where the huge waves were crashing over black rocks. Here's my bro-in-law Mike, getting a little wet.


And my brother Brad...


It was nice to have someone there so we could actually get some shots of the three of us!


We left that night at 9 pm, had a layover in LA and finally got home the next morning at 9 am! Claire slept for pretty much the next three days.

What an amazing vacation with memories we'll never forget. (To see even more pics, look on my Facebook page!)